Born in Baltimore on October 22, 1936, he graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire in 1954 and was president of the school's newspaper, the Exonian, as a senior.
[3] Jencks was Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Emeritus.
[9] Jencks was part of the dissertation committee at Harvard's Kennedy School that in 2009 awarded Jason Richwine – a former member of The Heritage Foundation – a PhD for his thesis, "IQ and Immigration Policy".
[11][12] According to an article in The Nation by journalist and historian Jon Wiener, Jencks was "for decades a leading figure among liberals who did serious research on inequality ..." and knew exactly what was "wrong with the studies purporting to link 'race' with 'IQ'.
For his work with David Riesman documenting "the rise to power of professional scholars and scientists",[14] he received the 1968 Borden Prize for Best Book on Higher Education.